“Whenever you lose a game, especially a league game, it’s hard,” center Joe Bernardi said. “Losing to these guys is hard. This is a bitter rivalry, probably a bigger rivalry than a lot of people on the outside know. They don’t like us and we don’t like them, but we respect each other.”

“I’ll tell you what, they get fired up going down that ramp,” head coach Pat Hill said. “They’ve got the kind of kids that play well. Both them and Boise have had good success here in Fresno. Not many other teams have had that kind of success that they’ve had.”

Shaw implemented one change to this year's blocking scheme. In past years of UH's version of the four-wide offense, the linemen aligned in a crouching position. Now, the guards are in a three-point stance, with the tackles remaining in a crouch.

"This group is good in their athletic ability and their ability to move their feet," Shaw said. "We get on (defenders) and stay on them. (Quarterback Bryant) Moniz might get bumped around a little bit, but we're blocking the defensive line. They're not flying through free."

When Salas T-boned Jermaine Thomas at full speed — while running with the ball, no less — it showed the Warriors are capable of doing what they've done other seasons when the run-and-shoot was at its best. Plays like that explode the myth of it being just a finesse offense.

If things go well the rest of the season, it will be looked upon as the Warriors' defining play of 2010.

You hope the Warriors remember how much they enjoyed the feeling. The wish is that what happened in Fresno doesn't stay there. Because the Warriors get the opportunity to do it all over again this week at Aloha Stadium when another deserter, Nevada, saunters into town.

Only this time the stakes will be higher and the competition markedly better. The nationally ranked and unbeaten Wolf Pack (6-0) are hoping to stay that way until its Nov. 26 showdown with Boise State. In that Hawaii might be the toughest remaining obstacle that Nevada has to negotiate on its way to that game now that the Bulldogs have been exposed.

Can the Warriors do it again with back-to-back bushwackings of the breakaways?